Brenda Augusta

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

I have been experiencing the joy
of giving in a heightened way these past few months and it is about more than
Christmas. It is our practice at connect2learning to offer a gift, most often a book, as a way of expressing
our deepest appreciation for the opportunity to work alongside teachers,
schools, and systems. Since November 22nd, I’ve been giving Making
Physical Education Instruction and Assessment Work, the book I co-authored
with my friend and colleague, Karen Cross. On two occasions (so far!), I’ve
actually been able to place it in the hands of a physical educator and say, “We
wrote this for you.”

The joy is about more than
sharing a new book I’m very proud of.It’s about shouting from the rooftops that assessment is a topic that
connects us - classroom teacher and specialist - and we have much to learn from
each other. All too often, the perception, and sometimes the reality, has been
that whole staff professional learning does not pertain to the physical
educators in the building. With this book, in which we apply the big ideas,
structures, and strategies of assessment in the service of learning to the
teaching of physical education, we show that a focus on quality classroom
assessment is an inclusionary professional learning practice that recognizes
that“We are all teaching children and
adolescents to be responsible, contributing citizens. We are all interested in
developing self-determining, lifelong learners.” (Augusta & Cross, p. 41)

Together we can talk about:

·identifying clear and meaningful learning destinations for
students,

·collecting
evidence of learning from observations, conversations, and products,

·describing
quality through the gradual release of responsibility, using samples, and
co-constructing criteria,

·giving
feedback that moves learning forward, and

·involving
students in self- and peer assessment.

While we’re at it, let’s include
the music specialists, the visual arts teachers, the industrial arts educators,
the drama teachers…

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

I got
the call today. The call that makes our
manuscript a book… a reality that we can hold, turn the pages of, and wonder of
wonders, invite others to read. Because my co-author Karen Cross and I live in
the same city as the printer, and the offices of Connections Publishing are in
Courtenay, BC, we will be the very first to hold our newly printed book. Even
though it’s a one-person job, we will probably make the drive to pick up our
box of books together because the writing was such an act of deep collaboration,
it would feel wrong to go alone. It’s a
thrill that will only be surpassed by learning that it is in the hands of a
physical educator or a school or system leader supporting the work of physical
educators.

We
describe our purpose in writing Making
Physical Education Instruction and Assessment Work in the preface of the
book:

We are colleagues whose paths
were interwoven for over ten years in our school district, and even though we
no longer work together, we continue to think, talk, and write about our
passion for education. We met as curriculum consultants, one for early years
education, and one for physical education and health. Although the scope of our
work was different, it quickly became obvious to us that we had much in common.
As we worked and learned together, we discovered that, irrespective of our
discipline:

·teaching is teaching

·learning is learning

·kids are kids

·effective practice is effective practice

·and a classroom is a classroom, whatever the size.

More specifically, we realized
that the principles of assessment for learning and the gradual release of
responsibility (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) connected us as classroom
teacher and specialist. It also became clear to us that not everyone saw it
this way. This book describes how what some may think of as principles and
structures for teaching “academics” only, apply to teaching physical education.
In fact, to us, physical education is an “academic” subject. However, we do
acknowledge that in physical education there are special circumstances—time
constraints, the number of students, keeping kids active—and we address them
all in this book.

Although there are two of us,
we have chosen to write in the first person singular. We are of one voice in
our beliefs and practices. Writing as “I” allows us to share our experiences,
stories, and learning in a direct, personal, and passionate voice. (Brenda Augusta & Karen Cross, pp.13-14, 2017)

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

In September Sandra Herbst and I did two writing institutes in Saskatchewan. One of our outcomes was to make connections to Saskatchewan’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) in the area of writing. Saskatchewan, like a number of other provinces, has a provincial writing assessment that includes rubrics describing what quality writing looks like at the end of each grade. Even though the rubrics are intended for use at the end of the year, we encouraged teachers to adapt them for use with their students right now, as the instructional year begins.
Expectations from the provincial ministry or department of education in the form of rubrics contribute to our understanding of the learning destination in writing (or reading, mathematics…). Clearly identifying this learning destination, for our students, and ourselves, is what we mean by beginning with the end in mind. And so, in Saskatchewan, I might take the holistic rubric for Grade 7 (edonline.sk.ca) pictured below and write “I can” statements based on levels 3 and 4 that the documents say describe meeting expectations.

In Grade 8 in Manitoba, I might take the language of the provincial writing competency rubric and write a learning destination based on the description for meeting expectations (because why would I show students anything less?) and made more explicit with language from the curriculum and my own understanding of the writing process.

Response has a clear focus, well-developed with
sufficient specific and relevant ideas and supporting details. Organization is
logical and coherent with effective links between ideas. Response has a
thorough relationship to the assigned task.

and rewrite it as a learning
destination, with details added from the provincial English Language Arts
curriculum and my experience and knowledge as a writing teacher, that is
specific enough to be meaningful to not only me, but my students as well.

Beginning with the end in mind,
I am able to focus on my students and writing instruction that leads to the
learning destination described by provincial rubrics and curricula.

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Brenda Augusta

About me

Brenda Augusta is an educator, consultant, mentor, author, and presenter dedicated to supporting fellow educators in practices that will have a positive impact on student learning.

Brenda’s expertise, gleaned over her thirty years of experience in supporting literacy and numeracy during the early and middle years of education, and combined with her skill and training to build teacher capacity, has earned her the respect and appreciation of fellow educators.

For the past fourteen years, Brenda has planned and delivered professional learning at both the system and the school level. She has developed and facilitated workshops and presentations for adult learners; collaborated with administrators and team leaders in strategic and long-term planning; advised on curriculum; modelled strategies through classroom demonstrations; advocated for and demonstrated the role of classroom assessment in the service of student learning.